We went exploring in a new bit of the Green Belt today. I took a lot of photos, but I haven’t got time to look through them all right now.
So I picked one Quota Photo to share (hey, it’s been a while…). This are it:
Dewdrops on an tiny acacia tree catching the sun. Bigger here.
Lots more to come (isn’t there always?), but not right now.
Well lookie here now. It’s 11th June 2020.
5 years on from 11th June 2015. (But that’s not important right now.)
10 years on from 11th June 2010. And that was the first day of the Football World Cup in South Africa. Remember those halcyon days?
Remember that halcyon day? We went to the Waterfront and watched Bafana v Mexico in Joburg:
You know… the one with that goal:
…before heading to the stadium to watch Uruguay and France:
…and the hyperactive Uruguayan marking on the French dangerman.
On the way back to the car after the game, I distinctly remember us chatting about how dull the game had been and how in just a decade, we’d all be trapped inside in the midst of a global pandemic.
Weird how these things pan out, isn’t it?
Here are my images from that day.
And here is a warning that I think there might be a few more World Cup posts on here over the next month. Because present day reality sucks.
Today is the last day of my lockdown…
I’ve shared a photo every day of lockdown. Some have been quite good, some have been really very, very bad.
Please click through and have a look.
But now it’s been 50 days. It’s run its course.
It’s time to get back to taking photos of things I want to instead of things I need to. And so it’s time to close.
I’m finishing today on a positive note with the image above, entitled “Look straight ahead: there’s nothing but blue skies” from the Jimmy Cliff song I can see Deirdre now Lorraine has gone.
Of course, there’s a lot more than blue skies to see: poverty, draconian regulations, corrupt government officials and virus… virus everywhere.
But a little blue skies thinking can go a long way to making you forget about all that nastiness.
Today’s TLD photo is of some dew on some grass. I lay on the floor over the weekend and became damp while taking it. I could have cropped just into that main blade of grass, but that would have meant losing the little pointy guy on the far left. And I think that he’s kind of cute.
One day, I’d like to buy a real macro lens and do real macro photography. I suspect that the South African Rand might have other plans though.
And then today’s mood – this struck a chord.
Sharing the love via Free Hugs is no longer permitted in these days of social-distancing. And quite rightly too – you risk spreading far more than just warmth and affection.
This rhyming approach is far more appropriate for these weird, uncertain times, because honestly, who actually has any clue what’s going on anymore?
It can’t be much fun having a lockdown birthday when you are 14 years old. Especially a birthday where you can’t buy anything (save for chocolate and hand soap).
Thus, our 14 year old got chocolate and hand soap for his birthday today, with the promise of “a proper gift” like a rotisserie chicken, once the unnecessarily draconian rules have been relaxed a little.
In the meantime, a long weekend (for what it’s worth) which we will make as exciting and enjoyable as possible.
Talking of birds, the kids are doing the annual City Nature Challenge on iNaturalist this weekend. Last year, there was a hike in Silvermine, walks up the Liesbeek River and general freedom. This year, we’re stuck shooting whatever we can in the back garden:
To that end, here’s a Cape White-Eye (Zosterops virens) on the Sunbird feeder. The White-Eye is not a Sunbird, but then the bottle says ‘Brandy’ on the label and it’s certainly not got that in it, so I guess a little deception is par for the course.
I was going to get some other shots of birds in the peace and quiet of lockdown, but next-door are mowing their lawn again and all the birds have flown away.